Lazy Summer Days
by Grumpr
Summary: Once upon a time, they were innocent. During a hot summer Elijah, Klaus, Rebekah, and Kol have fun playing in the water of the stream. Set in the 10th century.


**Lazy Summer Days**

 **Synopsis:** It's always nice to play around in the water to escape the heat of a warm summer day.

* * *

 **10th century**

* * *

The sun was beaming fiercely in the bright blue sky. It was in the midst of summer, with not a cloud in sight, and the midday heat was enough to make anyone seek shadows for a relief from the scorching light.

Through the forest a babbling stream flowed slowly. The drought of the past week had left its water levels lower than usual, and the water drifted gently over the flat rocks covering the bed of the stream.

On both sides of the water the forest was quiet. Only a light breeze rustling the trees disturbed the silence. Without the usual sounds of forest life, the woods felt almost deserted. Birds were hiding in trees behind the cover of the leaves and the snakes that usually basked in the morning sun on the rock plates near the stream had now retreated underground.

All in all, it was a peaceful day, but that peace was about to be broken.

"We're gonna defeat you!" Rebekah boasted, raising her stick high.

"Never!" Kol shouted back. He leaned forward suddenly, trying to hit his sister already, and Elijah had to take a step to keep his balance.

"Careful, Kol," he muttered, right as Rebekah shouted for Nikaus to move closer so she could hit Kol.

Niklaus met Elijah's eyes with a feral grin as he took a few steps through the water and the sticks made contact.

Two children sword-fighting was messy enough already, but add in two older brothers trying to balance them on their shoulders while standing knee-deep in a slow-moving stream and you had a recipe for disaster.

As it was, the swordfight didn't last long. It took only a minute for the sticks to be lost, fallen into the water where they slowly drifted away, and then all bets were off.

"Ouch!" Kol screamed as Rebekah got hold of his hair. "Let go, Rebekah!"

"Pull him down, Rebekah," Niklaus encouraged, taking a side step so his sister could pull their brother off Elijah's shoulders.

Elijah for his part was trying desperately to keep his balance, which wasn't helped by Kol's squirming as he attempted to free himself from Rebekah's grip. "Stay still, Kol, don't lean so much—"

His foot hit something in the water as he tried to balance, and then they were falling. Elijah only barely managed to throw Kol off him so they wouldn't be all tangled up in the water, before going under with a muffled yell.

Rebekah had let go of Kol's hair as soon as they started falling and now she held on to Niklaus' head as he moved them back a step to look—and grin—at the soaked losers of their competition.

Elijah reached to pull a disgruntled Kol from the water, brushing his hair from his eyes to see two smug faces.

"We won," Rebekah said triumphantly.

"Yes, well done," Elijah said dryly, eyeing Kol, who was grumbling under his breath about never letting his sister touch his hair again. He was somewhat at a disadvantage, Elijah supposed, as his hair was much longer than that of his other brothers. Poor Kol was still trying to brush aside wet strands so he could see again.

Still, even if they lost that didn't mean they couldn't get a little revenge. He met Kol's eyes, nodding at Niklaus and mouthing _time to get even_. Kol's eyes lit up, a small smile appearing on his face.

Niklaus had been enjoying their victory and Rebekah's crowing over their achievement, but the moment he saw his brothers smiling and turning back to him, his eyes went wide as he had the distinct feeling he was in trouble.

He backed away as quickly as he could with Rebekah still on his shoulders, when Kol and Elijah lunged for him, pulling at his clothes.

"Come join us in the water," Elijah said cheerfully, grabbing Niklaus' legs so he could topple him.

"Yes, into the water!" Kol echoed, like a blood-thirsty little monster, at the same time as Rebekah cried, "My hair!"

And under they all went, Niklaus at least having the foresight to grab Elijah's tunic so that he could pull his brother down with him.

As he came up again, Elijah smiled, glad for the cool water as the sun continued to shine down on them with almost painful intensity. He closed his eyes for a moment, just basking in the feeling.

Unfortunately, his youngest siblings were less happy.

"Kol pulled my hair!" Rebekah said, outrage plain in her voice.

"Only after you pulled mine!" Kol defended himself.

Rebekah frowned, but couldn't argue with that, so instead she shoved water in Kol's direction, the wave hitting the bottom half of his face.

Kol gaped at her in surprise, then splashed more water back at her.

Their fight went on for a few more turns, becoming more and more heated, to the point where Elijah opened his eyes and was about to step in, when suddenly Rebekah's hand slipped and she splashed Niklaus instead.

Their brother had been trying to wring out his tunic, and looked even more surprised than Kol to be suddenly covered in water again.

Rebekah giggled at his expression, then shrieked as Niklaus started splashing water back at her, squirming to get away and laughing.

Determined not to to be left out while his siblings were having fun, Elijah sank down on his knees on Rebekah's other side and sent a wave at Kol, smiling at Rebekah when she turned to him in surprise.

Rebekah grinned back and then the fight was on again.

It was utter chaos. Alliances were formed and then abandoned, Niklaus pretended to die a dramatic death when Kol splashed him, Rebekah ducked her head underwater to get close to Elijah without being detected, and Elijah just tried to throw water at as many siblings as he could.

All in all they were having a rather fun time splashing each other when a voice called out behind them.

"Did you four even find _any_ berries, or have you just been playing games all morning?"

It was Finn, evidently come to check up on them.

They all stopped, and Elijah was about to get up when Kol pulled his sleeve, an eager smile on his face. Elijah looked at him questioningly, then a small smile appeared on his own face too. He glanced at Niklaus, who grinned and nodded. Rebekah was already giggling next to Kol.

Almost in unison, they looked up at Finn.

Like Niklaus before him, Finn's instincts quickly warned him something was afoot when all four of his siblings turned to him with mischievous grins. He backed away from the stream as they climbed out of the water, then turned and tried to run for the trees as the others chased him.

Yet even Finn, though nearly a man grown and a full head taller than even Elijah, was no match for his younger siblings.

Niklaus' hand found the back of Finn's tunic, and Kol and Rebekah quickly started pulling him down, Elijah helping them. Finn struggled trying to get up, complaining about little siblings ganging up on him, but his grumbling was half-hearted at best.

Kol and Rebekah seemed to have lost track of their initial objective, and were now having fun clinging to Finn's legs to keep him from getting up.

Both Elijah and Niklaus held on to one of Finn's arms, pulling him backwards towards the stream. Their progress was limited mostly because of their siblings' mutiny, as now Rebekah and Kol were happy to let themselves be dragged along too.

"Kol, Rebekah, you're supposed to be helping," Elijah scolded, but he was fighting laughter as he did.

"No, you have to pull us too!" Rebekah shouted.

"Yes," Kol added, "Pull us too!"

"It seems we've been betrayed, brother," Niklaus said, shaking his head at their treacherous siblings with mock seriousness.

"It would appear so. What do we do now?"

"Let me go?" Finn said dryly, still hanging between his brothers with two little siblings clinging to his legs.

"You know we cannot do that," Elijah said, trying to drag Finn towards the stream, but it was slow going.

"Any ideas?" Niklaus asked him.

Elijah did, in fact, have an idea. "Kol, Rebekah, if you help us now, Niklaus and I will do your chores tomorrow."

Kol perked up. "Really?"

"All of them?" Rebekah asked. "Even cleaning the pots and pans?"

Niklaus grinned, knowing his little siblings would agree. Kol and Rebekah had only recently started getting chores and they were always eager to be done so they could play around again.

"All of them," Elijah confirmed.

After a quick glance at each other, Kol and Rebekah scrambled off Finn's legs, and lifted his boots from the ground.

"Bribery, really?" Finn asked incredulously, but they ignored him.

Elijah and Klaus lifted him by his arms again, and began pulling him along. With all four siblings helping, they reached the water's edge soon enough, dragging Finn to the shallow bank of the stream.

"You're not actually going to—" Finn started to say, his eyes growing wide as Elijah took hold of both arms and Niklaus went to grab his legs. "Put me down!"

"And, one, two, three!" Elijah counted as he and Niklaus lifted their brother and swung him back and forth to gain momentum. After the third swing they let go.

Finn screamed as they mercilessly tossed him into the water, landing with a big splash.

"Into the water!" Kol and Rebekah cheered.

Niklaus grinned at Elijah, who wore a pleased smile as well.

In the stream, Finn pulled himself up from the water, glaring at them. He looked like a drenched cat, with water dripping in his eyes.

His siblings laughed, and then threw themselves into the stream again too.

Finn wanted to be angry for their ambush, but in the end not even he could truly stay upset with his siblings after seeing the joy on their faces as they joined him in the water.

It was, after all, much too warm for any real fights.

"You four are incorrigible," Finn said later, as they all lay on one of the rock plates to let their clothes dry in the sun.

Kol giggled, entirely unrepentant.

"We're _cool_ ," Rebekah countered, a smug smile on her face.

Elijah smiled as well, but didn't speak.

The only one not responding to Finn's half-hearted scolding was Niklaus, who watched the sky with a pensive look on his face.

Elijah turned to him when he noticed. "What is it?" he asked softly.

"There are clouds coming," was the answer. Niklaus raised a hand to point at the sky.

Sure enough, where the sky had been a deep blue before there were now wisps of white forming in the east.

"Perhaps there will be a storm," Finn commented.

Elijah gave a thoughtful hum, but whether Finn was right or not, it would still be many hours for the clouds to get there. They barely seemed to be moving at all.

Next to him Rebekah made a face. "I don't want there to be a storm," she said petulantly. She had always been vocal about how much she disliked storms, although her brothers privately suspected it was more that the storms frightened her.

"I thought you said you'd give anything to get a change of weather," Kol piped up.

"Yes, but not _this_ kind of weather," Rebekah complained. "A bit more wind and less heat, I didn't want a _thunderstorm_."

Niklaus reached out to take her hand. "Don't worry, Rebekah," he said. "Even if it is a storm it will be many hours before it hits and by then we'll all be inside telling each other stories. You'll be having so much fun you won't even notice the storm passing by."

Elijah smiled at his brother's attempt to cheer up their sister. And Niklaus was right. A change in the weather still seemed far off.

The sun was shining down as harshly as before, drying the front of their clothes in no time at all. Their backs were still wet, but the rock beneath them had been heated by the sun all day and now radiated warmth.

"We ought to get back to gathering berries," Finn said eventually, but he made no move to get up.

"Hmm," Elijah said, his eyes closed as the warmth made him drowsy. "Later. We still have all afternoon."

Next to him Rebekah yawned, curling up against Niklaus, still holding his hand, and judging by Kol's deep and regular breathing the younger boy was already asleep. Even Niklaus had his eyes closed.

"Yes," Finn agreed, letting his own eyes rest for a bit as well. "Later."

* * *

 **A/N:** They're gonna get so sunburned smh. Any comments would be very much appreciated.


End file.
